My lesson about brain overload

[Bobbin-along]

We went out Saturday to do a couple of dives, planned out both before we left the house and had plans to find the elusive toilet dwelling eel at the local dive spot.

First dive was absolutley lovely, a small leak at the neck seal of the drysuit from a silly maneuver wet my shirt, and the mask was leaking a bit from where it sits between my nose and lip. Nothing but an annoyance. We had a 3 hr. surface interval because the LDS was packed with refills, and then went out for dive 2.

I opted for my other mask for dive 2, thinking I was going to solve that pesky problem. we kicked out to the drop-down point and the current was tracking about 3/4 knots right/left so we adjusted the planned route accordingly. I generally have to descend face first as never seen to be able to do the other move to force myself down. On my first attempt at descending I had to abort at 21fsw due to a flooded mask and an ear that wouldn't clear. I got back up, solved the mask problem after about 3 minutes of clearing hair that snuck out of the hood, swearing, fussing, then dealing with fogging back up, and re-adjusting the mask about a dozen times. Bobbed on the surface for a few minutes to relax and was ready to head back down and find the eel.

We descend and get to the slope edge that sits around 30fsw. From there we planned to mosey around the dolphin to the guide rope and down to one of the toilet dwelling eels who was to be sitting around 60-65fsw. We get to the guide rope (hubby seemed to be moving soooo fast) and start to head outward. I get just past the 58' mark and have a moment. It's so many things seem to hit at once I have to stop.

1.The mask is leaking and I for the life of me couldn't figure out why. Then I realize I'm exhaling through my nose which means the skirt lifts and water comes in as air is let out. Now who knows why I started that little move but I can't seem to stop myself from exhaling out my nose. and that meant my mask continued to leak.
2. we are moving along the route perpendicular to the current and the detritus is moving very quickly across my mask making me sorta queasy.
3. for whatever reason my brain didn't like how dark it was getting where we were going. Dark hasn't been a problem in the past, but for some reason it was then.
4. annoyed at buddy for moving so quickly and my not being able to keep up with them.
5. my mind flat out was screaming "No deeper, head back up to shallower water"
6. kinda cold and we were only 10 minutes into the dive
7. the worst sense of creepies, no apparent reason.
8. fretting about letting go of the line and being swept out to Admiralty Inlet (no idea when that little phobia kicked in)
9. my consumption rate of air was dramatic for me, I was sucking down 3-4 psi each breath. I couldn't get it to settle down.
10. didn't even know what to signal to him (5' away) that I was not going any further.
11. In looking around I broke the seal on the neck and I got a good shock of cold water down the neck, and somehow my entire left sleeve was soaked as well.
12. My brain was actually was repeating "screw the eel, screw my buddy, they can dive together I'm going back up to the pilings" and "when he's done he can find me, I've got yellow fins"

So I turned into the current to get rid of the transverse floaties on the mask, which also meant I was facing the sunset and more light (which helped a bunch) I moved back up to about 53' on the rope, emptied the bc and laid on the shell bottom with one hand on the guide line. That meant I could deal with the darkness foreboding, fear of floating away, little less depth, and made it clear to him I was NOT following him when we looked back. Then tried to relax and calm down and lower the breathing thing.

From there we headed back up to the 28-44fsw range and had a pretty low key dive for another 20 minutes then crawled up nice and slow all the way back to within 4' of the beach.

After the dive it was clear my core temp was low and my toes were numb with cold. In addition, for the first time ever I drank down 88oz of water while putting the gear away. Hubby thinks I was probably suffering from narcosis, but I don't know this was so dark and foreboding of a feeling. If it was narcosis it would be a first for me.

I had enough sense not to let the fears and panic completely over-ride the brain, but geez it would have been so easy to let them. And I learned that it's OK for me to limit a dive, I have nothing to prove when diving with better divers. Nobody was mad at me, specifically my buddy. Deep down inside I wanted someone there facing me, looking me in the eyes to help me settle down, but it was a good learning experience about my ability to try and solve problems without relying on the buddy. The bad part was I still never saw the toilet or the eel!

 

[Darnold9999]

Sounds like narcosis to me. Pretty much exactly how I start to feel it. Anxiety about some aspect of the dive not normally a problem. breathing rate goes up, difficulty solving some mental task (like focusing a camera), moving up the water column solves the problem. Usually doen't happen til after 90 feet or so, but some days you react differently. If you were dehydrated, I am told this will exacerbate the problem - don't know why - anyone?

 

[Ber Rabbit]

After the dive it was clear my core temp was low and my toes were numb with cold. In addition, for the first time ever I drank down 88oz of water while putting the gear away. Hubby thinks I was probably suffering from narcosis, but I don't know this was so dark and foreboding of a feeling. If it was narcosis it would be a first for me.

There is such a thing as a "dark narc" and it tends to happen in cold water rather than warm. I've had symptoms very similar to what you were feeling and had them so bad that even pressing my face against my buddy's did not help calm them and I had to abort the dive.

I had enough sense not to let the fears and panic completely over-ride the brain, but geez it would have been so easy to let them. And I learned that it's OK for me to limit a dive, I have nothing to prove when diving with better divers. Nobody was mad at me, specifically my buddy. Deep down inside I wanted someone there facing me, looking me in the eyes to help me settle down, but it was a good learning experience about my ability to try and solve problems without relying on the buddy. The bad part was I still never saw the toilet or the eel!

It's good to hear you were able to deal with the rising fears. When you start breathing shallow you build up CO2 and that enhances any narcosis. Narcosis is a sneaky beast and can be absent on one dive and present the next. The symptoms vary from diver to diver, day to day and even from dive to dive. Glad you were able to learn from the experience. The toilet and the eel will be there the next time!
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[RonFrank]

I generally have to descend face first as never seen to be able to do the other move to force myself down.

You maybe underweighted. You should NOT have to force yourself down especially with a full tank. You should be able to dump all the air in the drysuit, and BC, and easily sink. If you can not then you are either finning, or underweighted.

On my first attempt at descending I had to abort at 21fsw due to a flooded mask and an ear that wouldn't clear.

Clear at the surface. If you can't, then in general it's not going to get easier as pressure is applied. Clear early and often is the manta, but really I think it should be clear first on the shore/boat/surface, then clear often or as needed.

Hubby thinks I was probably suffering from narcosis, but I don't know this was so dark and foreboding of a feeling. If it was narcosis it would be a first for me.

I had enough sense not to let the fears and panic completely over-ride the brain, but geez it would have been so easy to let them. And I learned that it's OK for me to limit a dive, I have nothing to prove when diving with better divers.

You were at the beginning of a panic attack IMO. Narcosis generally is NOT a factor in under 60 feet of water, you had not been down very long, and it also tends to result not in panic, but Euphoria. HERE is a link which explains narcosis.

Panic attacks generally are triggered by not one, but several things going wrong. Your mask was leaking, you started out the dive under stress, you were hurrying after your hubby (tell him to SLOW down), and you were cold. The diver starts to stress, the breathing rate goes up, and the O2 absorbtion goes down which further leads to problems. Panic attacks are one of the leading causes of diver accidents.

You handled it well, and you should remember that a Diver can call a dive at ANY time.

I would suggest that you do a bit more pre-dive checkout with your buddy before going down in the future, and make sure your weighting is good. He should be able to see if you have hair stuck in the mask, and you should be able to sink easily with a full tank assuming your BC/Drysuit is not inflated.

Glad you are OK, and did not bolt to the surface which is how some new divers would handle the stress you were under.

 

[Bobbin-along]

That was dive 101 for us as a pair and dive 143 in my book. I did AOW last month about 1 year after basic and am registered for Rescue in September. I can’t seem to update my dive profile to represent the dive stuff though.

Since I'm ear sensitive dives always start on the surface with a pre-equalization before heading down, and I equalize often. For some reason, that second descent of the day just didn't go right with the right ear (which is the trouble side) and even by going back up horizontal at 15' and re-equalizing I couldn't get it to balance with the left side. It happens once in a great while, and usually a bit of an ascent clears it up (which I tried) once that didn’t work I was forced into more aggressive ways of clearing and that’s where the mask flood ultimately came in.

Pre-dive checks. We always check each other from head to toe and get verbal confirmation. When I was struggling with equalizing I voided the skirt seal and flooded the mask. These things don’t scare me, just annoy me.

Of course I know I can call the dive at any time, the weakest link is always the limiter on adventures. I'm cool with that I like that control. My overload was completely illogical, including the idea that buddy was moving too fast. He really wasn't but for whatever reason (much like the slipping into Admiralty Inlet) my brain was having it's own good time in conspiracy mode.

I’m known for calm, calculated responses in the face of stressful situations so that's what seemed so strange about it. I just knew that going further was bad ju-ju and I flat out wasn’t going. The other stuff was just the icing. The air consumption thing was odd, it wasn’t an out of air feeling and no breathing shallow either. I went from my normal 1psi breaths of air to 3 and 4 psi per breath. I've had the oxygen starved feeling, I didn't feel that need to gasp for air, I was just consuming much more than I normally do. I know exactly how much air I consume in a breath, I know exactly how much exertion will raise it and to what level, and even how to get it back under control. So this was not the norm.

Bolt? Nah, never an option. Again, I wasn’t panicky, just huge amounts of dread and fear. Cold, bone numbing feelings of it. I knew that things would be fine at 40’, but I sure as heck wasn’t going any further down than where I was. And buddy was watching me the entire time, I didn’t signal I had a problem so he just let me sort it out on my own. I could have easily called the dive, but I didn’t want to abandon, I just wanted to go shallower. When I didn’t turn back to follow he came to me. He never lost sight, and wasn’t more than 5’ away.

As to weighting, actually I think I’m about spot on for weight, it’s just a matter of habit and coordination I think. You grow up doing tuck and dives from snorkeling and suddenly some dive instructor tries to teach the spastic frog move.

 

[RonFrank]

Hmm, well I was assuming you had under 20 dives based on the profile, and the problems you described.

I have not had a panic attack UW, but have discussed it with a few divers who have. I still think that is what you were beginning to experience. They are not logical, nor do they happen to just inexperienced divers. Every diver whom I talked to that has freaked out UW as said that in the back of their mind they knew everything was OK, but that is not what they were experiencing.

I can not imaging you were Narced at 60 feet with so little time at that depth. I do get Narced, but it's generally at over 100 feet. EVERYONE get's narced at depths below 100 feet diving air, it's not really something that we are immune to even if some handle it better than others.

In any event, the Eel will be there another day, and IMO you did the right thing by not going deeper.

 

[Bobbin-along]

I've been lucky with the narcosis stuff. Had it once and that was done in my advanced class in a well monitored environment. Never had it at any other time, and then it was general clumsiness and bongo drums in my ears. No mild drunkeness like the other students had.

I too doubted it was narcosis, but our old instructor mentioned to hubby after we all were putting gear away as he has seen it happen when people were tired, several days of multiple dives, going from nitrox dives to air dives, in darker, low vis environments, dehydrated, and physically cold. And I can attest to the cold,dehydrated part. I slept in polar fleece jammies and a goose down comforter that night, drank 2-44oz bottles of water and didn't pee for numerous hours later. And I did dive air rather than nitrox on that days dives while I spent the 3 days previous on EAN32.

I didn't consider an anxiety attack as I work in high stress environments where the demands are both large in physical and mental forms. You are always being forced to evaluate yourself and peers for those kinds of stress behaviors, one would think that anxious/panicky tendencies would show up there as well.

I don't care what it was, I just hope it doesn't happen today when we go out.

 

[kittyjg]

Whatever it was, almost panic or narcosis, I'm glad you realized it and took control of the situation for yourself. Thank you for sharing it with us so others may recognize when they don't "feel right". The dehydration was probably a big factor and then adding cold to it.
Felt similar on one dive a couple of years back. Felt jittery and fluttery. Close enought to the bottom so I could kneel, closed my eyes, concentrated on my breathing, then signalled I was ready to head back slowly and shallow. (I checked the logbook, deepest was 52 ft., 2nd dive.) Didn't dive the rest of the day. Same as you, couldn't drink enough fluids and needed two blankets at night. My dive was in a 3mm shorty and 80 F water, though.
I just attributed it to dehydration and took measures to never let that happen on a dive trip again.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

I've been lucky with the narcosis stuff. Had it once and that was done in my advanced class in a well monitored environment. Never had it at any other time, and then it was general clumsiness and bongo drums in my ears. No mild drunkeness like the other students had.

I too doubted it was narcosis, but our old instructor mentioned to hubby after we all were putting gear away as he has seen it happen when people were tired, several days of multiple dives, going from nitrox dives to air dives, in darker, low vis environments, dehydrated, and physically cold. And I can attest to the cold,dehydrated part. I slept in polar fleece jammies and a goose down comforter that night, drank 2-44oz bottles of water and didn't pee for numerous hours later. And I did dive air rather than nitrox on that days dives while I spent the 3 days previous on EAN32.

Having had a bout of "stupid drunk" narcosis during the safety stop of a dive that was no deeper than 50 feet I can tell you that it can happen in shallower depths if there are other factors involved. I was exhausted, having only had a few hours of sleep the previous three days (working night shift). I was following 2 students on the tour part of the final dive of their certification when they stopped at one of the boats in the quarry. They were just hanging out there and I had no idea why so I practiced my hovering while watching them from about 4 feet below them. They hung out there for a while then surfaced while I watched them, completely unable to comprehend what was going on. I watched and waited for them to descend again since they didn't seem to be in any distress. One diver looked down at me and gave me a thumbs up that basically yelled "Get up here!" and I remember wondering what the heck he wanted that was so important. I surfaced and asked what was wrong he said, "Nothing, our time is up. What's wrong with you?" That's when I finally realized they had been doing their safety stop at the boat and I had been completely unable to comprehend what was going on.
Been there, done that
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[TSandM]

Yeah, unlikely though it is at such a shallow depth, this really sounds like a dark narc to me -- at least, it sounds like MY dark narcs. The obsessive conviction that something irrational (and bad) is about to happen, and the spiralling anxiety because of it, are really familiar. Good job of controlling your breathing and staying in control. Having just gone through my own little pre-panic experience, I know how much discipline that took.